Eco-film Night #5 - Dirt! The Movie

Chances are it's been a few years (or decades) since you looked at dirt as anything other than something to avoid dragging into your apartment. As children, we love getting coated in the stuff; as adults, all we can think about is keeping away from it.

But dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt helps regulate the earth's climate. Dirt is the ultimate natural resource for all life on earth. Nonetheless, contemporary agricultural and industrial practices are quickly degrading and destroying this fundamental piece of our planet.

"Dirt! The Movie" offers a vision of a sustainable relationship between Humans and Dirt through profiles of the global visionaries who are determined to repair the damage we've done before it's too late. There are many ways we can preserve the living skin of the earth for future generations. If you care about your food, water, the air you breathe, your health and happiness, come join us!

As always, entrance is free and any and all are welcome. Come early for a meal, stay late for a chat, or both.

Date: Sunday, December 12th

Time: 7:30-9:00PM

Where: Buy the Book, Rodeo Street, Downtown Daegu

The End of the Teot-bat (FOR NOW)

I returned to the field the other day, dismayed to see that the cold had taken its toll on the sesame leaves and basil. All was wilted, and most was eaten by bugs. There were a few pleasant surprises though.

For instance, here we see that as late as late October, cherry tomatoes are still growing.

Being a novice, I didn't realize how much staking and stringing the little guys need, so most of the fruits had fallen to the ground. Nonetheless, it looks like one made it to fruition while on the vine. Success! Even the big tomato plant, which only bore one or two tomatoes throughout the summer, had some big, green fist-sized ones on the vines.

Hrm, something is amiss:

Who is that lurking in "my" garden?

A real live rabbit, enjoying some rotten sesame leaves and my neighbor's fairly healthy-looking pepper plants. I found it odd that the little critter preferred the peppers to my carrots. A true Korean rabbit, I suppose.

Yours truly, hard at work. Speaking of carrots:

I didn't weigh them, but I'm guessing it came out to about 4 kilos. Pretty good for one inexpertly-planted row. Enough for 2 weeks of carrot and cilantro soup!

The weather is cold enough that nothing else will grow - the mint, basil, sesame leaves, green onions, chives, tomatoes, and pumpkins are all on their last legs. Plus, I wasn't motivated enough in the early autumn to plant any winter greens or radishes. Thus, there's nothing left to be done at the Teot-bat until sometime next spring. Rabbit friends, you have my permission to eat any and everything; all I ask is some fertilizer in return.

The Teot-bat Pays Off!

After several months of ceaseful, effortless cultivation, the beloved Teot-bat has finally delivered. Of course, I had snagged a cherry tomato or two and a few fistfuls of mint leaves and basil in the past, but now, apparently, the combination of the late-August rains and the cooler weather of September has led to some truly monstrous growth.

Basil and Sesame leaves, each about a meter high. Some nice green onions on the left, too.

Some truly beautiful Cilantro/Coriander, Chocolate Mint, and Thyme:

!A CARROT ERUPTION!:

Better pick that Okra, too:

(Actually, it was already too late for the Okra. Mathan, my excellent Indian neighbor, tells me I should have picked them when they were still soft.)

Chives and Green Onions:

Harvested: Green Onions, a sickle, and 1/3 of a shoe.

Also harvested: basil, a carrot, and 2 ziploc bags

Daegu NoksaekSari Organic CSA Distribution Complex:

THIS IS THE WHY:

A pumpkin, chive, and green onion pancake.

Thank you, Teotbat.

Eco-Film Night: Our Daily Bread

When: Satuday, 13 November, 8:00PM
Where: Buy the Book Cafe, Rodeo Street, Mr. Pizza Building, 4th Floor, Downtown Daegu
언제? 토요일 11월 13일, 8:00PM.
어디? Buy the Book Cafe, 로데오 거리, Mr. Pizza 빌딩, 4층

Noksaek Sari hereby invites you, your friends, your friends' friends, and anybody else you know who happens to eat food, to join us for our fourth Eco-Film Night. We will be showing Nikolaus Geyrhalter's award-winning 2005 documentary "Our Daily Bread."

"Welcome to the world of industrial food production and high-tech farming! To the rhythm of conveyor belts and immense machines, the film looks without commenting into the place...s where food is produced in Europe: monumental spaces, surreal landscapes and bizarre sounds - a cool, industrial environment which leaves little space for individualism. People, animals, crops and machines play a supporting role in the logistics of this system which provides our society’s standard of living.

OUR DAILY BREAD is a wide-screen tableau of a feast which isn’t always easy to digest - and in which we all take part. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience to form their own ideas."

As always, entrance is free. All are welcome to enjoy the movie, and if you're hungry, feel free to try a meal or snack from Buy the Book's healthy and Earth-friendly menu.

Hope to see you there!

대구녹색살이 당신, 당신의 친구들, 친구들의 친구들, 그리고 당신이 아는 모든 음식을 먹는 사람을 초대합니다! 우리의 4번째 친환경 영화상영에 참석하시길 바랍니다. 이번에는 Nikolaus Geyrhalter의 상을 많이 받은 2005년에 나온 다큐멘터리 "Our Daily Bread"를 상영하겠습니다.

OUR DAILY BREAD는 우리가 매일 먹는 산업의 음식물을 어떻게 만들었는지 객관적으로 보여 주는 다큐멘터리입니다. 보이지 않는 우리의 소중한 음식을 생산하는 기계와 시설, 장소와 풍경, 사람과 동물을 폭로합니다. 해석을 덧붙이지 않는 고급스럽고 세심한 연출이므로, 직접 보셔서 독립적으로 의견을 결정할 수 있을 겁니다. 매우 시각적인 영화라서 영어를 알아들 수 없어도 많이 배울 수 있을 겁니다.

늘 하던대로, 무료입장입니다. 영화만 즐기셔도 되고 만약에 배가 고프거나 목이 마르다면 Buy the Book의 친환경, 건강에 좋은 식사나 과자를 맛보세요.

곧 뵙겠습니다!


Visit the official website:

http://www.ourdailybread.at/jart/projects/utb/website.jart?rel=en

Ippl

Welcome to Ippl! If you like 1) knowing who grows your food and where they live; 2) splurging on organic veggies; and, 3) placemats detailing the proprietor's food philosophy, then this is the place for you.

Located in Suseong-gu, across from Trump World and between Hwang-geum Negeori and Dusan Ogeori, Ippl offers a variety of wonderful, healthy, and delicious services.

First and foremost, the organic buffet, with 25 or more dishes ranging from soups, pancakes, mains, sides, fresh fruits and veggies, and cold drinks:

Second, the marketplace, selling (mostly) healthy, (mostly) organic, and (mostly) local grains, fruits, veggies, sauces, and snacks.

And, third, the 반찬 bar, where you can buy pre-made side dishes to take home and enjoy. Candied black beans, lotus roots, different styles of Kimchi, roasted garlic, and more!

Themes of health and responsibility link all three operations. On the wall, you can see a list of all the ingredients used in the cooking, along with the name and location of the farmer that provided them.

And on your placemat, you can read Ippl's mission statements:

One: Food soon becomes a person's body and soul. If you treat it thoughtlessly, how can you properly care for yourself and for your neighbors?

Two: We must develop a sense of taste that likes healthy food. We must develop a tongue that dislikes and refuses food which is bad for us.

Three: Bread, snacks, yogurt, and other unnamed food additives and hidden sugars reduce our physical and mental capacities.

Four: Through overprotection of milk, eggs, and meat, the development of harmful bacteria is accelerated; consumption of meat in which harmful chemicals have accumulated may bring about allergies and a weak constitution.

Five: Soybean oil, margarine, and other artificial fats and hormonal additives confuse our bodies.

Six: Our bodies waste precious energy trying to flush out artificial flavors and additives, making us more likely to fall ill.

Seven: It's important to know and feel the meaning of directly growing the lifeforms we call "crops." Good food is made over a long time, through the devotion of many people, with a heart that acknowledges its debt to nature.

Eight: Healthy produce can not come forth from polluted land, air, and seas. Good ingredients and proper food bring nature, consumers, and producers together in a relationship of respect.

Nine: Food soon becomes our character. The world changes and history is shaped according to what and how we eat.

Three cheers for responsible restaurateurs!

In Brief:
Restaurant: 이플 유기농 뜨락 / Ippl Organic Garden
Location: Suseong-gu, Between Hwang-geum and Dusan Intersections, across from Trump World
Type of Restaurant: Organic, responsibly sourced buffet
Meat?: Almost all the dishes are vegan-friendly. Some egg dishes from free-range chickens and very few have meat.
Price: W15,000 for lunch, 20,000 for dinner. All you can eat.
Hours: Buffet open for lunch from 12-3 and for dinner from 6-9. The market and side-dish shop are open daily, 10 to 10. No dinner on the final Monday of the month.
English: No need, it's a buffet! As of September, one of the employees speaks decent English.
Official website: http://www.ippl.co.kr/

Great news!

I went to HomePlus a few nights ago. In a moment of weakness, underprepared and overloaded with produce, I asked for a plastic bag. The cashier told me:

HOMEPLUS AND OTHER LARGE STORES ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED TO PROVIDE PLASTIC BAGS TO THEIR PATRONS!

How great is that? Next they just need to ban the stores from selling banana bunches wrapped in cellophane and single bell peppers on styrofoam plates (also wrapped in cellophane).

Eco-Film Night #3 - Baraka: A World Beyond Words

This Saturday we'll be celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving by showing the film "Baraka." "Baraka" is a Sufi word meaning "a blessing, or the breath, or the essence of life, from which the evolutionary process unfolds." In Islam generally, it is "a quality or force emanating originally from Allah but capable of transmission to objects or to human beings." In Judaism, it is a ceremonial blessing. In Swahili, it means "blessing."

"Baraka" employs neither words, actors, nor plot. Instead, incredible, thought-provoking images from around the world show the beauty and chaos generated by nature and humans. Filmed at 152 locations in 24 countries, Baraka contains some images that you'll recognize, and many you won't, but will change the way you think

When: Saturday, October 9th, 8:00PM
Where: Buy the Book Cafe, Rodeo Street, Downtown Daegu
Who: All are welcome, even if you can't speak English. 자막이 없는데 그 이유는 아무 말도 없기 때문입니다! 영어를 완전 못 하셔도 영화를 즐길 수 있을 겁니다. 꼭 참석해 주세요!
Price: Free. Order a meal, a snack, a shake, or a drink from Buy the Book's menu if you'd like.

Check it out on Facebook here.